As we find ourselves within the sacred season of Advent, we are drawn into a holy space—a space of quiet reflection, deep longing, and audacious hope. Advent is not a mere countdown to Christmas but an invitation to immerse ourselves in the profound mystery of the incarnation: the stunning reality of God breaking into our world, not in power or splendor, but in vulnerability and love. This is the story we inhabit: the story of a God who takes on flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, a love so radical that it is born into the rough simplicity of a stable in Bethlehem.
The incarnation is a challenge to our assumptions about divinity. God does not remain distant, abstract, or untouched by human suffering. Instead, God chooses to enter our experience—to walk among us, share in our frailty, and illuminate our darkness. In the Christ child, we see a God who chooses humility over majesty, proximity over distance, and love over fear. This is the mystery we are invited to contemplate: a God who is Emmanuel—God with us, even now.
Advent, then, is a season suspended between the past and the future. We remember the historical birth of Jesus—the dawn of God’s light breaking into our shadowed world. But we also look ahead, straining toward the horizon of God’s promised kingdom—a future where justice reigns, where the broken are made whole, and where creation is restored. Advent calls us to hold this tension, to live in the “already and not yet” of God’s unfolding story. It is not a passive waiting but an active, expectant hope—a hope that compels us to embody the kingdom in the here and now.
Yet this present moment demands our attention, for the story of Advent is also a story for today. We cannot speak of hope without confronting the pain of our world, a world marked by the deep scars of climate breakdown. Rising seas, burning forests, parched lands, and vanishing species cry out in a lament that echoes the groaning of creation itself. These crises, borne disproportionately by the vulnerable and the marginalized, confront us with the consequences of our disordered relationship with the Earth and with one another.
Here, in this season of waiting and wondering, the incarnation speaks with fresh urgency. The God who became flesh in Christ declares the sacredness of all creation, reminding us that we are not separate from the Earth’s suffering but deeply intertwined with it. Jesus entered a world scarred by injustice and brokenness, bringing a message of healing, redemption, and reconciliation. That message calls us still—to live as stewards of creation, advocates for justice, and bearers of hope in a world desperate for renewal.
Advent does not let us escape into nostalgia or futurism; it roots us in the now. It invites us to face the harsh realities of our time while holding fast to the promise of God’s redeeming love. It is a season of repentance and transformation, calling us to examine our complicity in the wounds of creation and to embrace a way of living that reflects care, humility, and hope.
As people of Advent, we are called to be signposts of God’s coming kingdom—outposts of love, justice, and renewal in the midst of a broken world. We are invited to bear witness to the light that no darkness can overcome, to live as agents of healing, and to point toward the day when all things will be made new.
So, in this season of waiting, let us quiet our hearts and listen for the whispers of the Spirit. Let us open ourselves to the profound reality of God with us—the incarnate Christ who meets us in our brokenness and invites us into the work of renewal. May this Advent season deepen our awareness of the sacred story unfolding around us, and may it inspire us to live with courage, compassion, and prophetic hope, as we join in God’s mission of redemption and restoration.
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Father of Creation,
In our bleak midwinter we are confronted again
With something startling,
Something shocking,
And something profoundly beautiful.
A Holy mystery,
The story that the Mighty God
Has revealed himself
In the Babe born in Bethlehem.
To Him be all praise and glory.
Father of Creation,
We remember that holy night
When eternal Son of God
Took up fragile flesh,
In a lowly cattle shed
Grows inside Mary’s womb,
journeys through the birth canal and is born to a colonized and oppressed people group.
To Him be all praise and glory.
In Jesus we see a new power, a new might at work in the world.
A power so powerful, yet so beautiful,
A power so powerful, yet so loving,
A power so powerful,
Yet
Wrapped in swaddling clothes and extravagant mercy.
And now,
Right now,
As we stand within the unfolding of the climate apocalypse,
As we lament for what has already been lost,
As we grieve in anticipation for what is already locked in.
We look to you with Advent hope.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Comfort us with your presence.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Bind up the broken-hearted.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Restore unto us the joy of our salvation.
And now,
Right now,
As we stand between the first and second coming of your Son,
As we weep for a world in the grip of beastly powers,
As we hope against hope for the manifestation of your Cosmic Shalom
We look to you with Advent expectation.
O Come thou rod of Jesse, free Your world from Satan’s Tyranny.
O Come thou rod of Jesse, come Deliver us from climate breakdown hell.
O Come thou rod of Jesse, free Your world from tyranny,
From the beast of the unholy trinity.
Deliver us, O Lord, from unrestrained capitalism,
Deliver us, O Lord, from consumerism
Deliver us, O Lord, from individualism.
Father of Creation,
God and Father of our Advent Hope,
We thank you that your Son is
A Mighty God who binds up the wounds of the broken-hearted.
We thank you that your Son is
A Mighty God who stoops and serves and washes feet,
We thank you that your Son is
A Mighty God who holds the hands of the leper,
Who takes up his cross,
And receives a crown of thorns,
A Mighty God who enters the grave,
And in doing so, deals the death blow to death itself.
A Mighty God,
Crucified and raised to life.
Ascended to glory.
The servant King,
The butchered Lamb,
The Name above all Names.
And He will be called Wonderful Counsellor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
And now,
Right now,
As we stand within the unfolding of the climate apocalypse,
We look to Jesus,
We confess Him as Lord,
Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus
Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus
Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus
Amen.
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